More than 1,000 Muslims formed a human shield around Oslo's synagogue yesterday, offering symbolic protection for the city's Jewish community and condemning an attack on a synagogue in neighboring Denmark last weekend.

Muslims took part in a show of solidarity with Norway's Jewish community. Credit: REUTERS/Hakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix

Chanting "No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia," Norway's Muslims formed what they called a ring of peace a week after Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, a Danish-born son of Palestinian immigrants, killed two people at a synagogue and an event promoting free speech in Copenhagen last weekend.

Zeeshan Abdullah, one of the organisers told the crowd: "Humanity is one and we are here to demonstrate that.

"There are many more peace mongers than warmongers. There’s still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds."

Norway's Jewish community is one of Europe's smallest, numbering around 1000, and the Muslim population, which has been growing steadily through immigration, is 150,000 to 200,000. Norway has a population of about 5.2 million.

A cruise ship on which a British pensioner was killed by a freak wave earlier this year has run aground in Norway with more than 750 mainly British tourists on board.

The 22,000 tonne MS Marco Polo became lodged in soft mud while trying to manoeuvre to drop anchor in high winds near Leknes in Norway's northern Lofoten Islands.

The Marco Polo cruise ship, seen in February, following the death of 85-year-old father-of-two James Swinstead. Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive

British owner Cruise & Maritime Voyages has offered the 763 passengers on board the 14-night voyage to the Land of the Northern Lights to be transferred but said it expects the ship to be freed to resume the trip at high water this evening.

The ship hit the headlines in February when 85-year-old James Swinstead was killed and several other people injured after water crashed through restaurant windows as storms hit the English Channel.